Page 29 of Lost Starlight
“I am so sorry. I hope he is not injured somewhere. The queen sent out guards to look all over the kingdom,” Michael said gently.
“He is on the road to Lune!” Mother bellowed.
No, He would not leave me.
I wanted to correct her, tell her that it was the Kingdom ofSolalunenow; the two kingdoms used to feud but had become one kingdom, thanks to a marriage. Just the week prior, Solalune’s king and queen had sent word that they would be attending our wedding.
Where is Peter? I need him. This has to be some kind of simple misunderstanding.
“Something is wrong; now, I can feel it. I am going to the castle. I need to search through his things.”
“His things?”
“Yes, there have to be answers, something—”
“Gwendolyn, you are not going to find anything inspiring about his good nature. All you will find is that he has left you,” Mother called from the sofa.
“You know nothing, Mother. Peter loves me,” I said in unexpected defiance, yet my chin quivered. I did not want to let her words affect me. I knew Peter, and he would not abandon me. He had searched the seas to find me.
I turned the door handle, straightened my back, and walked to the entrance to retrieve my coat, hat, and purse. As I did so, I told the servants to ready my carriage, for I needed to go to the castle and find some clue as to what could have happened to the man I loved.
Chapter Fourteen
Peter
Present Day
Salty air was something I was used to. Butthatsalty air was different—thicker, heavier—and I knew the taste of that air as well–from my nightmares.
I shook my head, feeling something heavy over me. As I opened my eyes, I realized I was lying in the sand upon the seashore—not a seashore in my kingdom, but on Pixie Isle.
I blinked a few times, dislodging the sand from my eyelids. I knew I had to be covered, head to toe, in the grainy substance. Getting myself up, I went into the water to get rid of the grittiness, which felt as if there were ants crawling under my clothes. Once I cleaned off the sand as much as humanly possible, I walked carefully up the beach with myshoes in hand, up to the edge of the jungle. Sitting on a rock and after brushing the sand from my feet, I put my boots back on. The island was balmy, and I would dry, eventually, even with the humidity in the air. It was better to be wet than to have sand everywhere.
There was a tinkling bell behind me, and I turned. Sure enough, a glowing pixie hovered just behind me.
“Peter! Peter!” the pixie sang.
“I am here, so what must I do to fulfill my debt?”
“We must go! Must go!”
Pixies are irritating,I thought.One-track minds, or simple-minded, maybe?I stood up and motioned for the pixie to lead the way.
I was a captive on that island until they released me. I marched like the prisoner I was, though with no clanking chains and iron bands. Instead, it was invisible magic keeping me with them until my debt was paid.
Keeping me from Gwen.
We moved through the thick, wet jungle. Vines and tall palm trees leaned across our path, as well as the abundant spring flora. It always appeared to be spring on that island. Many tiny creatures flitted this way and that. As we continued to walk in and out of the jungle upon some invisible path, which only that pixie seemed to know about, we came to the lagoon with that cascading waterfall. I’d been there before. It was a beautiful sight, one that, perhaps, in a different situation, I would have enjoyed.
I had once enjoyed being there, actually, only because I had finally found Gwen and was able to save her.
I remembered that clearly, and I fell into that memory.
One Month Before Present Day
“Let her go!” I shouted as the pixies chimed all around me. “I know you have her!”
“Cannot! Cannot! Ours! Ours! Ours!” Their bell-like sounds made me even more enraged.
